


Genuine Love

by DarthSuki



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Robot Feels, Robot/Human Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 02:31:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15809520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthSuki/pseuds/DarthSuki
Summary: After the events of New Vegas, Seven has finally pulled the strings and called in the favors from her adventure through the Mojave to get Yes Man a body. Though she’s happy to give her companion a chance to live a life without being shackled by his strict personality programming, Seven worries if Yes Man will still feel the same about her afterwards--will he still care about her like she cares about him?





	Genuine Love

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a commission for [CrownandAntler](https://crownandantler.tumblr.com) on tumblr! It was a lot of fun to write--been wanting an excuse to explore Yes Man's character for a long time.
> 
> [If you're curious, this is what I envisioned him to look like in his new Synth/Human body!](http://darthsuki.tumblr.com/post/177418862095/meganiumdraws-aaa-i-wanted-to-post-these-before)

There was something to be said about being the queen of New Vegas in all but name. Names, after all, had a certain level of power over those who heard them, used them, and believed in them wholly. It was one of the reasons that Caesar might have been as feared as he was during his conquest of the states to the east--until he was rightfully killed, that is.

Suffice to say, names are powerful, but Seven herself cares little about them. Useless bunches of letters, a hollow mask to hide away the person behind it--actions, after all, mattered more than words and titles. The only exception that Seven had ever made to that belief was ensuring nobody called her anything than what she was: a courier. New Vegas, Freeside, all of the surrounding lands of the sinful city; to them, she was simply ‘The Courier’.

Still, while she didn’t care for the names people called her, Seven couldn’t deny that she had a distinct level of power and influence with New Vegas and all of the factions connected to it. The NCR saw her as a hero, the Families saw her as a savior, and all the others saw her as she had been in the beginning of her time in the Mojave--a courier.

There were plenty of benefits to being so influential. Seven didn’t hide them, didn’t reject them, but took advantage of the resources when she genuinely needed. It was good to have a favor, a trick up the sleeve. After all, nobody could predict what would happen in life, and Seven herself had learned it was good to have friends and resources when things got tough.

But there was one friend, one companion, that she had a debt to--and it was a debt she was keen to pay back.

Helping Yes Man get himself a body, a more humanoid form, was certainly one of those moments of need for Seven as the not-really leader of New Vegas. It was only fair, after all, considering all he had done to help get her where she was, offering companionship and level thoughts when she needed them most in her darkest moments. He was….important to her. Deeply important: Seven wanted to do something worth the happiness he had and still continued to give her.

It took months to get the resources, and months more to have them moved from the east coast all the way to the Mojave, though Seven certainly didn’t lack for caps or favors to call upon in order to get the job done.

Nobody knew where she had procured the technology or the knowledge; even those closest to her had only a vague understanding of some sort of ‘Institute’ and a people called ‘Synths’. That’s all she’d ever let slip, and people knew well enough not to pry her for more information beyond that.

Seven was a good person, but nobody was ready to test the patience and mercy for the woman who freed New Vegas from Mr. House’s grasp and helped defeat Caesar’s Legion.

It took over a week to complete. Nine days of the unknown, each one bringing forth new layers of worry that nipped and gnawed at the back of Seven’s mind. Though she had managed to get the best resources, hire the best doctor, ensure the highest probability of success in the transfer--it was still a worry she couldn’t simply set aside and forget about.

The Lucky 38, after all, was just too quiet without Yes Man’s voice.

* * *

When Seven finally got to see him, she almost couldn’t believe he was the same securitron she’d met all those months ago. He stood before her, this lanky, tall man, clad in a set of loose pants and a shirt--he wore glasses that seemed to slip from their spot on his face every time his head shifted.

But despite it all, he looked at Seven with gentle eyes and a wide, unbroken smile.

“Yes Man?” The name had long since blurred into one word on Seven’s lips as she speaks it, moreso as her eyes glance up at the man, face foreign but smile all too familiar. “Is that….you?”

Nine days. Nine whole days of worry and stress--but seeing him at last, seeing him standing in front of her in a body, a  _ human _ body, was beyond what Seven thought she was ready to see. 

It took a moment for the man to speak, opening his mouth and letting a noise fall out, then hurriedly trying again; it was almost like a child trying to find their voice, say their first words, all of the awkward mouth motions, but from a being with mountains of knowledge and years of experience being anything but a child.

“S….Seven?” The sound was a little rough, but it was his voice.  _ His voice _ . The woman couldn’t begin to understand the complicated technology behind giving him a voice that sounded exactly as it had before, down to the same tone and energy behind each word. The man blinked his wide, almost owlish eyes, and brightened considerably. “Can you believe this? I’m--I’m alive!” 

He took a moment and blinked, raising a finger to tap at his lips, correcting himself before Seven had the moment to come up with a response.

“Well, I was arguably alive before the transfer, but now I’m even more alive!” Yes Man then threw his arms to the air in a simple show of his joy. 

The woman before him took a breath, watching him with an expression that balanced precariously between awe and joy--though that only lasted for a few seconds before she hurried forward and threw her arms around Yes Man.

He felt  _ warm _ . His body was soft, it responded to how she hugged him close and tight. Too tight, as she’d quickly realize by the man’s wheezing.

“Shit, I’m sorry--” Seven said in a hurry, but Yes Man quickly hushed the apology away with a wave of a hand.

“Oh goodness no, you’re fine!” He exclaimed, glancing down at his chest. “It would appear that I will have to get used to things like….breathing. But that’s alright, quite exciting actually! I wonder how long I could hold my breath if I wanted?”

Seven was not ready for him to start tossing around curiosities, especially not when he was still getting used to a very fleshy, very fragile, very  _ mortal _ body. She thrust forward to grab his hands and attention alike.

“Please don’t try to test something that would get you killed,” She said, squeezing his hands in her own. “The last thing I need is you accidentally suffocating yourself.”

Yes Man nodded in a rare moment of silence, but his eyes never moved from Seven’s face, his attention never wavering from her eyes and joy and the dozen other emotions that were moving about her thoughts. Truth be told, Seven had planned quite exceptionally well for the process in getting to that point, but she hadn’t spared all that many thoughts in what she would do, how she would feel after it was all said and done. There was only so much she could ignore and hide, simply pretend it didn’t exist until she was literally face-to-face with a being--a  _ man  _ now--who had been one of her few supporters as she adventured across the Mojave.

And she felt fear.

It wasn’t a fear for betrayal or anything of that sort, nothing something any normal survivor of the wasteland would care or think about, though Seven was in a very unique situation herself. 

Did Yes Man still care about her as he had before?

The question was inherently a bit selfish, despite how much Seven had done her best to ignore and outright reject the wavering fear that clung to the notion. As a securitron, Yes Man had been shackled, restrained to his rigid programming of being helpful.

_ ‘It’s not my fault I can’t say no!’ _

She could remember how unnerved it sounded coming from him all those months ago, when they had first met one another. How it stung whenever she remembered it, the notion that perhaps the bonding between the two of them over all the time she’d gotten to know Yes Man was simply part of that very same programming--the inability to say no, to reject, to not return the feelings that had blossomed deep in Seven’s chest whenever he greeted her upon entering the Lucky 38.

Whether Yes Man took note of the fear in her eyes or simply that she was lost in thought, Seven wasn’t entirely sure--but she was brought back to current events when she heard his voice ring sweetly in her ears.

“Sev?”

The woman blinked as she focused on the current moment, of the fact she was still clutching his hands (warm, soft) in her own. Yes Man was so tall in his new body, surpassing Seven by at least a few inches, if not half a foot. It wasn’t anything new--his former body towered over here, and she had gotten used to looking up a slight in order to look at his screen while speaking to him.

It was sweet to finally watch Yes Man’s smile widen, see his expression shift from one thing to another--he had yet to learn how to cover them up, though hell would sooner freeze over before Seven cared if Yes Man ever got himself a poker face. She liked seeing him happy.

“I want to test something; is that alright?” 

His head tilted slightly to one side in a motion of almost childish curiosity. Seven nodded, only slightly cautious for what Yes Man was eager to test first in his new form. Would it be pain? Hunger? Complex thought processes? The possibilities mounted in the back of her thoughts, with each one a careful notion of how she’d respond.

“I want you to tell me not to kiss you!”

….But that was not one that she had considered. Seven blinked rapidly, taken back by the words despite the fact that was certainly something she’d thought about for a long while--it would have been one hell of a lie to say she hadn’t considered at least once what it would be like to kiss him (especially with a body quite capable of kissing).

“Ex….use me?”

The confusion was merely reactive--his request rang loud and plenty clear a half-second after she opened her mouth.

“I apologize--that was too forward of me wasn’t it?” Yes Man looked sheepish after a breath. “I suppose I--er. Perhaps that wasn’t….right for me to ask. I simply thought it was a perfect opportunity to test if I am still restricted by my hardware issues of my previous body!”

Did he mean that in the sense that he  _ wouldn’t _ want to kiss her otherwise? It was very hard to tell, pick out the honesty from the man’s flustered words.

“Don’t...kiss me?” Seven finally said in a bumbling breath. 

Yes Man huffed, brows furrowing for a moment as he thought it over.

“You mean that only for purposes of this test, right?” He pursed his lips, and Seven thought idly how cute it looked on him. “I ask because I respect your boundaries, and if you are otherwise honestly telling me that you wouldn’t want me to kiss you, I want to make sure that’s distinctly stated between us.”

God, it made her head hurt.

“Fuck,” She groaned, pulled a hand out of Yes Man’s so she could rub it over her eyes and look back at him. “Okay. If you are….able to bypass or….make your own decisions, I would--” Seven took a quick breath so she wouldn’t stumble over herself. “--I would love for you to kiss me right now. But--But  _ don’t  _ kiss me. Don’t even  _ think _ about kissing me. You are not allowed to kiss me at all and--”

But then he kissed her. Sweetly, quickly, without a breath of hesitation from the moment that he heard she genuinely wanted him to.

The kiss itself was sloppy, obviously due to the fact that Yes Man was still learning how to use his mouth for speaking, let alone anything else. But what the kiss lacked in tact and experience it sure as hell made up for in passion. Seven could feel Yes Man’s hands leaving hers, but moving up to touch her face, cup her cheeks while his thumbs swept over her skin.

Though it felt like the kiss lasted for centuries, it was only a few heartbeats later that the man gently pulled his face back, though just enough that he could speak clearly.

“....I’ve been….wondering what that would feel like,” he murmured. “To kiss you, I mean.”

“Is it everything you dreamed it’d be, loverbot?” Seven said with a chuckle, trying desperately to ignore the way her heart hammered away against the inside of her chest. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so light on her feet, so genuinely  _ happy _ about much of anything. 

Not when she fought in the second battle for Hoover Dam, not when she killed Caesar with Boone, not even when she saw the lights of Freeside flickering to life after routing the power from Helios One. For all that she had accomplished in her life, Seven could not compare the feeling of warmth and joy that rushed through her veins.

Yes Man cleared his throat. His cheeks were warm and red, his eyes barely able to meet Seven’s own as he tried to sputter out some semblance of a come-on.

“So uh, I think this is the moment that I’m supposed to say that I like you? A lot. A whole lot. No programming making me say that either! I--I want to protect you, Seven.”

And so the woman felt a smile on her face, wide to the point it almost hurt, as she looked at him. She reached her hands up to cup Yes Man’s face in kind and pressed her lips to his in a soft, slower kiss, the gesture wordless but rife with meaning of love and sweet, genuine happiness.


End file.
